The deadline for World Series of Boxing teams across the world to sign new boxers expired this week, resulting in numerous last-minute additions as the competition intensifies towards the final third of the season. The Istanbulls, currently in third place in Europe, made the most of the opportunity to recruit new talent, taking on four new boxers, two of whom will be in action this weekend against Paris United.
After two consecutive visits to Paris, Dolce & Gabbana Milano Thunder will once again enjoy the home advantage when they host the newly-fortified Istanbulls squad at the Palasharp in Milan on Friday night.
New signings Redouane Kaye (Sweden) and Constantin Bejenaru (Romania) will make their debuts for the Istanbulls. Kaye will face world champion Domenico Valentino, who is unbeaten so far in the WSB, in the lightweight contest and Bejenaru will debut against Nikolajs Grisunins (Latvia) at light heavyweight. The Milan finale opposes unbeaten heavyweights Benjey Zimmerman (Netherlands Antilles) for the home side and Oleksiy Sivko (Ukraine) for the Istanbulls. Zimmerman stands at 2-0 for the season and is 7th in the individual rankings, while Sivko is at 3-0 and is ranked 4th.
There will be two week five rematches in Moscow on Saturday as Paris United visit bottom-of-the-table Moscow Kremlin Bears. Home boxer Ziyodulla Hadiyatullaev (Uzbekistan) will be looking to avenge a loss by TKO-I to Artur Schmidt (Germany) of Paris United in the lightweight bout and Denis Tcariuk will be hoping for the same fortune against Hrvoje Sep (Croatia), who beat him on points. In the heavyweight bout, Paris United’s second Croatian boxer, 18-year-old 2010 Youth World Champion Filip Hrgovic, will face Moscow newcomer Vitaly Kudukhov, who took the silver medal at last year’s Russian national championships.
All of the boxers in action for the Pohang Poseidons’ second home match against the Beijing Dragons on Saturday are still looking to get off the mark in the WSB. Bantamweight Lukas Maszczyk (Poland) faces He Zhiwei for the second time, after losing to the 18 year-old in week two of the competition. Beijing Dragons star Pedro Lima (Brazil) will be looking to extend his 3-0 record with an important away win that could see him improve on his number four spot in the individual rankings at middleweight. One of light heavyweight boxers in Korea is guaranteed to get off the mark this weekend, since both Ahrorbek Qoorbonov (Uzbekistan) of the Poseidons and Zhang Wei of the Dragons have yet to win a contest this season.
The unbeaten Baku Fires host Asia’s second-placed Astana Arlans at the Serhedchi Sports Complex on Saturday. World Championship silver medallist Tugstsogt Nyambayar (Mongolia) is back in the line-up at bantamweight for the home team and will face the Arlans’ newcomer Rakhimzhanov Mirzhan. Koba Pkhakadze (Georgia) is the only Baku boxer in the team this week to have lost a bout so far this season. The 2009 World Championship bronze medallist will face number three ranked Yerzhan Mussafirov in the lightweight contest. Soltan Migitinov’s clean 3-0 record could be under threat from surprise package Slam Kanat from the Astana Arlans in the middleweight contest. Kanat knocked out World Championship silver medallist Andranik Hakobyan (Moldova) of the Pohang Poseidons in the first round of his debut match in week six.
Americas conference leaders the Los Angeles Matadors travel to Mexico City on Friday with two new signings, Joseph Diaz at bantamweight and Elber Santos (Brazil) at light heavyweight. The light heavyweight contest will be a battle of the newcomers as Mexico City field their new signing Cristian Montenegro de Haro. Hector Manzanilla (Venezuela) will also make his first appearance for the Guerreros, although he has been a member of the squad since the start of the season.
The Miami Gallos versus Memphis Force match which was scheduled for Saturday in Miami has been postponed because no event permit was issued and will be rescheduled for later in the season.
